Death Mask 3 Exploring Rome

Rome: Masks, hidden identities, hidden agendas, Gorgons, the shadowy influence of Egypt's past, the Pharaohs of old returning to take their rightful place.  

Let's dig a little deeper. 

The whole point behind the cult is that it's run by masks, whose main purpose in life is to make more masks, to extend their already lengthy existence. These masks derive their motivating force and their purpose from the old Gorgon cult, which fled to Egypt when the original cult bases in Greece were smashed. Now the cult promotes a return of the old Pharaonic ways, mainly to encourage new Egyptian recruits to join, but at its heart it's the same Gorgon cult it was many centuries ago.

It's probably worth remembering that when Perseus allegedly slew Medusa he did it using flying sandals, a cap of Hades that made him invisible, and an adamantine sickle. Those sound like useful cult-bashing relics to me. Some or all of these might have found their way to Egypt over the years and are now hidden in some tomb or other, or perhaps on the back shelf of one of the many, many curio shops in Cairo or Alexandria. 

What if, for instance, that adamantine sickle is in fact a khopesh?  Ceremonial versions of those were found with Tutankhamun; if King Tut can have them then there's no reason why Perseus' old blade can't have found its way into some priest's tomb. What if those battered sandals are hanging up with the stock in some souk or other? 

The cap of night found its way into several different hands; Hermes had it, Athena had it, there's no telling where else it might have gone after Perseus used it. He may have dropped it in Mycenae, where he was King. If so, then the archaeologist Schliemann might have found it while digging for Trojan loot, in the later 1870s. If that happened then the cap would be in Berlin at the time of the campaign, but then the Great Museums of the world are part of the Building so there's no reason not to have a side trip off to Berlin. Nor, for that matter, is there a compelling reason why a German archaeologist might not sneak the thing away in their bags and baggage for a trip to Egypt. For ... research purposes. Not because they're a cult member seeking promotion. Or because they're a cult opponent trying to smash the new Pharaoh. Possibilities ... 

OK, so we have some Banes and possibly also treasures to be sought for in the first arc of the campaign. Fine. So who's the OPFOR?

Remember, all OPFOR have:

• Power, appropriate to their function within the narrative.
• Goals.
• Assets, to be used to achieve their goals.

What does the cult have?

Power: far-reaching political, social and quasi-military authority and influence within Egypt. Their spies and enforcers are everywhere. They can have people killed. They can deploy assassins, peculiar occult magics, ancient mummies - all within Egypt proper. Outside Egypt, their influence drops off dramatically. They can send agents to do their bidding, but they can't just snap their metaphorical fingers and have a man in, say, Berlin, drop dead that same moment. 

However, this power is basically illicit. They have no actual civil or legal authority. They exist behind the scenes. Everyone fears them, but it's not as if they have an office building, a flag, a government post. 

For the purposes of plot, it can be assumed that their power extends as far as Egypt extends. Which means, among other things, that it extends to all those museums and other places where Egypt mania is all the rage. Where the mysteries of Egypt - and, by extension, the cult - influence art and architecture.

Do the civil authorities in Egypt - at this point in time, the British military occupying forces and the Egyptian civil government - know about the cult? Probably. Inasmuch as the cult is active and does things, the authorities will know about those things. They may not have connected the dots and realized that this peculiar murder, or the rise of that politician, are all connected to a power-hungry pro-Pharaoh movement. They know something's up, but not what. Further, there will be some within the civil authority who have connected dots, who suspect much, and are either opposed to the cult or who seek alliance with it for their own ends.

That rival Power opposes the cult's own, and the cult will constantly be aware of it. This limits the cult's overt activities. It cannot expect to do whatever it wants whenever it wants, not without consequences. It can have a man killed, but if that killing is very troublesome for the civil authorities then the cult had better have someone to take the blame, go to trial and perhaps get executed. Otherwise, the political fallout from the killing may upset the cult's plans. 

Of course, all this is before the new Pharaoh steps forward and takes their rightful place on the throne temporarily occupied by Fuad I. The cult will probably be paying very close attention to the career of Mohammed Ali Tewfik, the heir presumptive, but he spends most of his life outside Egypt. Why? Who can say? But he does have a magnificent Cairo palace full of artefacts and practically swimming in history. It's very private, of course; it won't become a museum until after his death. But I'm sure that can be worked into the first story arc. Perhaps that's where the cap of night is now, or perhaps the person who has it seeks an audience with Mohammed Ali so they can sell it to the heir presumptive. Sounds like a job for some plausible go-betweens ...  

Goals: The cult has a hidden goal and an up-front goal.

The up-front is to restore Pharaonic rule. There will be a new golden age of such and so forth. Egypt will once more become the yadda yadda. This is the goal that all the cult members know about. It's the carrot that brings in new members. It's the lure that keeps radicals, Nationalists, Communists and the Muslim Brother hood on board. Work with us, and we'll help you get what you want. Those groups may not have everything in common with the cult but they have one common enemy: the British occupying forces. So long as the cult keeps playing the public game, and drumming up hatred for the British, the more likely it is the cult will get what it wants from those other groups.

There is another way to play this which could be just as interesting. Have the cult ally itself with the British. All the other groups - Communists, Radicals, Nationalists, Muslims - are against it now, but so long as it can keep them fighting each other they'll lack the resources to come at the cult direct. It does mean that player characters cooperating with the British will never know if the policeman, say, or the Colonel they ally themselves with is, in fact, a cult member. Or even a cult leader. 

That's the up-front. The hidden goal is simply this: survival.

The cult remembers all too well the bad old days after the initial collapse, when it was on the run, fearing for its existence. There were a number of times when it might have vanished altogether. Its final shrines vandalized, the last masks smashed or burnt. It has been surviving in the shadows in Egypt for centuries, eating scraps, gathering strength. The oldest among them remember the bad old days and want no more of that, thank you. They would sacrifice every single Pharaonic cult member, every dollar in its coffers, if that meant the cult would survive another day. It knows how to relocate and start fresh. It's done that before. 

That's the old guard, of course. The ancient among them. The newer masks? They quite like luxuries. They like ruling over men. The shadows are comforting, but also an irritant. Wouldn't it be grand to show off their true power? To take center stage? These are masks, after all; they don't feel they truly exist if they're not performing. These are the cult members who will take risks, who will execute the grand plays and come up with power schemes. They don't care as much about survival. They've been fed scraps for too long. Now they want what's on the center table. 

This is a bit different from the average cult in a Cthulhu-esque game. In the typical setting cult members are just a means. Everyone gets fed into the cosmic woodchipper in the end. In the meantime, they work to bring about the return of [insert squid-faced monstrosity here.] This cult is nothing like that. It exists to exist. If there ever was some deeper meaning in its rituals, that meaning is long forgotten. 

Except, perhaps, by the most ancient among them. 

Can you say gerontocracy? Bet you know what that feels like. The old guard might have believed in something once, when they first started out. Now they just believe in holding on to power, for as long as their cold, dead hands can grip.

Assets: at the street level, hundreds if not thousands of willing servants. Everyone from that knife-grinder in the souk to the policeman, the museum curator, the archaeologist, and more. 

They all have their reasons. Some buy into the return of the Pharaoh shtick. Some just like the idea of sticking it to the British (or, alternatively, to the King, the Muslims, the Communists, or whoever). Some join forces for professional advancement or knowledge. After all, who better to know where the best dig sites are than the cult which has been around since forever and who probably built most of those dig sites in the first place? Some just want loot. Whatever the desire, the cult can provide. 

At the not-quite-street level, the youngest of the masks and the mask-makers. The ones who look like Venetian carnival masks, or just Halloween fun times masks. These are the center of any immediate cult activity. If there's a bunch of cult members centered around the local dig workers, then there will be a mask at the heart of it, probably worn by the reis. If the museum curators are in league with the cult, then one of them will be wearing a Harlequin mask. If the staff at Shepheard's are being blackmailed into doing the cult's bidding, then the blackmailer will be wearing a mask.

These masks give some power to the persons wearing them. Think of these as Renfields, if this were a Night's Black Agents game. So long as the mask is on, the wearer gets that power. However, there is a price to be paid. The wearer either has to make a blood sacrifice to keep going, or to give up some of their own life energy to go on. This can mean the wearer dies with their mask on, in particularly dire circumstances. 

Above the street level are the advanced members. The ones who know what's really going on (or who think they do). The ones who are working to bring about the new Pharaonic dynasty. These are highly placed persons and high-powered masks. The masks themselves are probably quite old, if not ancient. At least a century's worth of experience. They might be original Commedia; they certainly date from that period. They were made in the time when the cult was just beginning to reinvigorate itself, to draw on new membership. They don't remember the bad old days, at least not first-hand, but they've heard the old stories time and time and time again. Their loyalty wavers. Perhaps, they mutter among themselves, the time has come for a new direction. 

The oldest among them, the original Gorgons, are ancient indeed. They remember the old days first-hand. These are the ones obsessed with recovering the artefacts that Perseus (whoever that may have been) used to destroy the cult the first time. They realize how fragile life can be. They exist in the shadows. So long as the cult keeps bringing them people to eat, they're happy. These are the only masks with the ability to annihilate a person just by looking at them - the turn-to-stone ability. If there is a whisper of some peculiar theatrical troupe that performs once every so often, for a select audience, this group of masks is at the heart of that rumor. The ancient Roman or Greek theatre, reborn. Except the audience never gets to go home ... 

This final group is the one with real power. They can kill; they have access to ancient knowledge; they can summon up spirits or command mummies to rise. They have in their possession the ancient texts sought after by so many occultists and Tombhounds. They know where the real dig sites are. All they want is to continue to exist. For that to happen, they need to get the relics of Perseus. For that matter, they also need anything else that might pose a threat to them. If it should turn out that some modern artefact, say, has the same potential as Perseus' adamantine sickle then they will want it in their possession, toot sweet. For that reason, they may be very interested in any surplus Great War weapons or sinister death rays that some mad scientist left lying around. If you want to turn the game towards a kind of superhero (or at least super-science) direction, that's the way to do it.  

So! Rome. This is where it's all heading. This cult with its desire to just keep on existing, who plays with making men into Gods. 

Next time, let's talk the first arc.

Death Mask 2 - Exploring the Building

The Building: Egypt in general, Cairo in particular, various dig sites scattered across the desert, Cyprus, smuggling ships, and the Museums of the World with a focus on the British Museum, the Louvre, and the Museo Egizio of Turin.

Let’s populate the Building.

All kinds of people and events might be in any Building. Some are plot relevant. Some are there to be there, and some are there because they have to be there.

Plot relevant is an obvious descriptor, and I shan’t go into detail about that group. I trust you to work that out for yourself.

What about the ones who are there to be there, and there because they have to be there?

Let’s say this is the opening scene of Casablanca. 

Casablanca sourced from Film Clips

In that scene we’re introduced to many people, almost none of whom are plot relevant. One or two of them have function within the narrative. They do things. They have lines. The majority are there to be seen.

These are the ones who are there to be there.

The street juggler, the hawkers, the foreigners being swept up (the usual suspects) the man with the Free France leaflets; they perform a necessary service, just by being seen. They set the stage for what’s to come. The pickpocket has a recurring role, has lines of dialogue, and draws the eye. He introduces the setting and gives the audience a taste of what’s on offer. The young couple seen briefly will appear later at Rick’s and provide what amounts to a side quest.

They exist within the narrative because someone has to. In any given scene, there will be people in the background. If this scene takes place in a bar, there will be other people in that bar. If in a market, then other people will be buying, other people will be selling. Any setting – any society – cannot exist without someone in there participating in the scene.

However, because player characters expect to be able to tinker with the bits and pieces of any scene, you as Keeper need to be able to pluck any of these otherwise faceless personalities out of the toybox and make them do things.

What makes them different from the ones who are there because they have to be there? 

Plot function.

The ones who are there to be there have no plot function. They might become plot relevant, through accident rather than design, but there’s nothing about them which makes them plot functional. They exist to be seen, not to do something nor to provide something.

However, there’s a class of character who’s there because they have to be there, and for that example in Casablanca’s opening scene, I point you to the French police.

After all, someone had to round up the usual suspects. Someone had to shoot that Free French fifth columnist with the leaflets. Someone had to provide tension within the narrative. If the police didn’t exist someone would have to invent them, because without their presence there’s nothing keeping the narrative together.

In any game setting there will be a class of characters within the Building who exist because without them the Building could not exist. They serve a vital plot function by making sure the whole shebang makes sense. They might be police, or government officials, or religious authorities, local politicians, street cleaners, bartenders, antique dealers – whatever makes best sense within your Building.

This is a specific Building, don’t forget. It involves smuggling, antiquities, occultism. That means the people who are there because they have to be there are probably smugglers, antique dealers, occultists. Some of them may even become plot relevant, but they don’t have to start that way.

They must exist because, without them, the whole conceit of the narrative falls apart.

How much detail need you lavish on these folks?

Well, probably not much, but you do need something more than a lick and a promise. For example:

• Merchant tall, always bends lower to appear shorter than they are, rapid talker, has four sons to assist them in their work, believes God will provide but, in the meantime, he must provide for himself. No combat skills, but the sons are combatative.
• Merchant A born gossip, this one lives for scandal and is always on the lookout for the latest news. They deal exclusively in expensive small things (eg. coins) and carry their wares with them in a leather bag. The merchant is an experienced knife fighter, for all their apparent helplessness.
• Merchant: A skilled tradesman, perhaps a stonecarver or a jeweler, or even a forger, who only deals with people that he knows. He has no time for riffraff or people who wander in off the street. He is very influential with the local authorities and can bring that influence to bear against people he dislikes.
• Merchant: This one sells supplies to expeditions and always has what an expedition needs to get going. He has been on several adventures himself as a young man and is more than willing to talk about his exciting past. Have you time for a coffee? Good! Now, this happened long ago ...

That’s the people, but why are they there? Partly for background, sure, but the players are going to want to interact with some of them and when that happens the players will want something in return. Clues, possibly. Stuff. Adventure hooks. 

These shouldn’t be specific to the NPC, whether they’re there to be there or there because they have to be. If you attach a specific clue to a specific character the only thing you achieve is an increased chance that the players will lose track of the plot, because they didn’t speak to X about The Thing. 

These are non-plot related, at least conceptually. None of them attach directly to any given scenario or plot seed. But there’s no reason why any of them shouldn’t attach to a scenario or plot seed. Let the players make that choice. If they want to follow up on that peculiar scarab they picked up from dear old so-and-so, then it makes not a scrap of difference whether that scarab was intended to lead to Rome. Now it definitely does.  

You probably don’t need too many of these, at least up-front. There are only so many shiny things any player can concentrate on at any one time. But you do need some, like so: 

• This character has a 1-point clue that leads to a Dig Site. 
• This character has a 1-point clue that leads to the location of a minor relic. 
• This character has a 1-point clue that can be developed into an important NPC relationship. 
• This character works with the Gorgon Cult and can be persuaded to turn against them. 
• This character has a minor relic (scarab, papyrus, mummy) that they’re prepared to sell. 
• This character has a fake relic that they’re prepared to sell. 
• This character works with a criminal organization and can make an introduction to that organization. 
• This character is actually undead and will lead the players into an ambush if given the opportunity. 

List of potential minor relics: 

• Granite stone inscribed with text. 
• Small amulet of a winged lion. 
• Small amulet of a cat. 
• Badly damaged mummy. 
• Incense burners with the head of Horus. 
• Bust of an important official, possibly Roman or Greek. 
• Papyrus with religious text. 
• Lapis Lazuli scarab. 

Again, you don’t want a lot of these but you need to have just enough on hand to be able to fling them out, when you need fresh meat for the lions.  

Now, remember what I also said about the Building:

When designing a setting, think about how people live and what they have to do in order to live well. Not just the big stuff, like which Camarilla faction holds political sway after dark, or whether ghosts are secretly controlling the police force. I mean the small stuff. What do people do for fun? How do they get their food? Do they have light when night falls, and if so how is that managed? What happens when it's hot? What happens in the rainy season? What happens when it snows? What happens to all the shit - literally, the shit - that your average city produces every day?

With that in mind, some events & locations:

• A funeral procession passes, the emaciated corpse on an open bier, carried by their friends and servants, only covered by a hastily flung shawl. Professional mourners follow behind, howling and bawling. The actual mourners, the spouse and children, are more restrained, but weep real tears. 
• A group of people argue over the acts of an efrit that supposedly haunts a nearby building. The efrit, they say, inhabits the bath, because a servant was murdered in that bath. There is much argument over what to do about it.  
• A group of locals and merchants discuss the Nile floods, and whether this years’ will be as bountiful as the one before. If it is too high a flood, they say, plague will surely follow. 
• The heat today is almost unbearable, making every surface and piece of furniture a furnace. It is almost impossible to move in the streets; even a stroll of a few hundred meters feels like an eternity in a hot griddle.  
• The call to prayer sings out from nearby minarets, bidding the faithful to worship. It is such a melody as would gladden the heart, but tonight there is a tinge of melancholy. Why? Who can say? 
• The flies today are particularly annoying. You cannot wipe them away fast enough; they return again and again, drinking your sweat.  
• A brightly colored lizard perches on a nearby windowsill. Its scales are the most magnificent; a little pharaoh on its throne. It has the most beatific expression, like a bishop welcoming guests into his home. 
• A darb, or by-street, about six or eight feet wide, a thoroughfare, with, at each end, a gateway, with a large wooden door, which is always closed at night. This darb is entirely shops, small recesses at the grand floor of a modest house.
• A hárat, or quarter, a district consisting of one or more streets or lanes with private houses, and but one entrance, with a wooden gate, which, like that of a darb, is closed at night.
• A Sook, or market, a short street, or short portions of streets, having shops on either side. These sooks are covered overhead by matting, extended upon rafters.

You may notice I nicked some of that direct from Gutenberg, with what is probably idiosyncratic spelling. When you're going to be reading it aloud anyway, spelling can slide. 

There's a lot more I could put in this Building. I still haven't mentioned what people do for fun, or whether there's street lighting and if so who manages it, who the civil authority is, who the street-level authority is, and a host of other factors. The point here isn't to be exhaustive. This is meant to point in the right direction for further detail later.

After all, any one of these could occupy a whole evening of play, in theory.  The born gossip with the 1-point clue that leads to a relic directs the characters towards that group arguing over the efrit in the bath, and it's off to the races. The players could practically invent the scenario on their own, by their reactions to those prompts.

Remember, this all sprang from that group of Building occupants who are there to be there. I never delved deep into that group who are there because they have to be there. I leave that to your imagination, except to say that in this situation there are probably two types: the first being the occultists and other esoteric experts who the players may turn to for guidance, and second, the ordinary cultists themselves, the ones not deeply involved in the Gorgon cult but who are cult-aware, and can be trusted to aid the cult when needed.

That's it for this week!

Death Mask 1 - Rome and the Building (Campaign Design)

OK, I have support for an expansion of a Gorgon masks idea first posited here, and for Tombhounds of Egypt.

Why not combine the two? 

Let's begin by talking about two core game concepts, Rome and the Building. 

Rome, as you may recall, is the endpoint, where all roads lead. This is where the game is ultimately heading, and elements of Rome need to be present wherever the characters go to reinforce that concept. 

The Building is that part of the game world where you, the Keeper/Director/Idiot Who Agreed To Write Something expect action to happen. It is where people meet the players, creating plot. After all, if your game world is this world then the characters might, theoretically, go to Chicago, say. But if the game is Tombhounds, why would they be in Chicago? No, your Building is ultimately smaller than that, but you need to have a firm grasp of its scale and what's in it.

Why start here? Because these are the foundational building blocks of the narrative. You need to know where the campaign is going. You need to know where the action is set. Once you have those two things, you can build with confidence.

In this instance, Rome is the Gorgon masks cult. This campaign takes as its central premise this truth from Joseph Cambell, as follows:

The legend of Perseus beheading Medusa means, specifically, that "the Hellenes overran the goddess's chief shrines" and "stripped her priestesses of their Gorgon masks", the latter being apotropaic faces worn to frighten away the profane. That is to say, there occurred in the early thirteenth century B.C. an actual historic rupture, a sort of sociological trauma, which has been registered in this myth ... 

Fine. At one point there was a Gorgon masks cult in the Hellenic world, and that cult was overthrown in the 13th Century BC. What happened next? Well, in this timeline whatever parts of the cult survived ended up in Egypt, finding safe haven far away from the heroes who destroyed the cult the first go-round. This is about the same time as the 13th Dynasty, as Ramases II, as the battles with the Hittites. It's a time of prosperity and conflict, with the Sea Peoples in the wings waiting to eat everything alive. 

Sourced from Extra History

So: in an Egypt that's at the height of its power and about to go downhill, a death cult based around Gorgon masks settles in for the long haul. It's one of many cults in Egypt. So many cults. But this one has a Mythos tinge to it, a touch of madness that will infect the body politic and eventually play a part in bringing it down.

According to myth there were three Gorgons, including the human Medusa changed by Athene into a Gorgon for her impiety. Perseus slew Medusa, in the process creating the horse Pegasus and Chrysaor of the golden sword from her blood. This, in the campaign setting, is the cult overthrow that drove the remnants to Egypt.

That left two Gorgons standing, brother and sister duo Phorcys and Ceto. Tales vary as to whether Phorcys and Ceto were Gorgons or the parents of Gorgons. For purpose of this story, they're Gorgons. 

Brother and Sister. You know who else were brother and sister ruling together? The Pharaohs. Marriage between siblings was relatively common. Probably the most famous paring was Cleopatra and her brother. Sibling marriage wasn't accepted outside Egypt, but within its ruling classes it was the standard.

So, to Rome: the Masks of Death, whose self-appointed task is reconstituting the Hellenistic Pharaonic dynasties within Egypt, themselves a relic of the Gorgon cult. The idea of recreating the Pharaohs may simply be a means to an end, the end being the recruitment of willing Egyptians. The Gorgon cult doesn't need Egypt particularly, but it does need people to keep its traditions alive and to make more masks, so it tolerates the Pharaonic delusion to keep the masses happy.

All led by Phorcys and Ceto, brother and sister, the Horus, the Sedge and Bee (nswt-bjtj), and the Two Ladies or Nebty (nbtj). Interesting fact about the Horus: it is associated with gold. Much like that golden sword of Chrysaor ... 

Rome: Masks, hidden identities, hidden agendas, Gorgons, the shadowy influence of Egypt's past, the Pharaohs of old returning to take their rightful place.  

What of the Building?

Well, there are a couple obvious candidates. Cairo, for starters. Dig sites, and for purposes of the Building it doesn't matter what those dig sites are or where; they're dig sites, and that's what matters. However, this is as much about smuggling as it is archaeology, so it's reasonable to assume that the Building also includes smuggling routes. Let's include Cyprus within the Building as a minor but not unimportant adjunct. Also, smuggling ships of various kinds, sail and steam. Finally, since this is about antiquities, let's assume the Museums of the World are involved to some degree. Include the British Museum, the Louvre, and the Museo Egizio of Turin as rooms within the Building proper. None of these will ever be crucial to plot, but they make excellent background shots for plot reveals.   

Also, Patrons. Let's not forget those useful, money-rich patrons. 

Which begs a question: do I want to use the Icons system that Pelgrane's developed? Possibly. I should want some time to think about that. 

The Building: Egypt in general, Cairo in particular, various dig sites scattered across the desert, Cyprus, smuggling ships, and the Museums of the World with a focus on the British Museum, the Louvre, and the Museo Egizio of Turin. This is where I expect action to happen. 

Which isn't to say that action outside the Building is verboten. Just that I don't include a developed version of 'outside the Building.' I've got enough to do with the Building's interior without worrying about detours. The best way to deal with unexpected detours is to have a sketch developed of whatever I want the initial detour to look like, and then Quo Fata Ferunt the rest.

Quo Fata Ferunt, by the way, is Bermuda's motto. I've always found it useful. 

Whither the Fates Carry [Us]. 

That's it for this week! Enjoy!

Yes, I Listen (RPG All)

Sourced from JoCat

Well, that last post on wandering encounters did some pretty decent numbers.

Looks like you folks enjoy campaign design. Fine, okay, and righty-o.

With that in mind, the next few posts will have me writing campaign design for a setting of your choice. If only this thing let me post polls! Alas, it does not.

So!

If you could choose, which system/setting would you rather?

• Dungeons and Dragons (Ravenloft)
• Dungeons and Dragons (Radiant Citadel)
• Serpentine (within the City)
• Serpentine (outside the City)
• Gumshoe: Tombhounds 
• Gumshoe: Night's Black Agents
• Cyberpunk: RED

??

I deliberately put systems I want to write for on the list because, contrary to appearances, I'm not a complete idiot. Yes, I know Dreamhounds and King In Yellow exist. I'm not in a hurry to write anything for either setting. Ditto Wraith and Vampire, for much the same reason: I don't feel comfortable enough with the setting/rules to go into detail.

Setting to include the first campaign arc, on the assumption that there are three arcs total leading to some kind of Rome. What kind? Well, that will depend, really. Let's see what transpires. 

The last time I did something along these lines I was talking about Blair's UK. This time I'd like to do something a bit different, but as to what ... well ... 

Happy long weekend, to those of you enjoying a long weekend right about now!

Wandering Encounters (GUMSHOE)

Sourced from Ginni Di

One thing Dungeons and Dragons does well is filling in downtime and travel time, often with wandering encounters. 

Your group penetrates the dim, lightless reaches of the haunted forest on their way to [insert dungeon here] and, quite by chance, discovers [roll dice] a dozen zombies. These zombies are former villagers from [insert village here] and if proof of their deaths is returned to that place, the heroes will be rewarded with [reward]. 

Or, your group penetrates the dim, lightless reaches of the haunted forest on their way to [insert dungeon here] and, quite by chance, discovers [roll dice] a dolmen, under which rests the remains of sacrificial victims. It’s not immediately clear who sacrificed them or to what end (religion rolls may be helpful here) but among the belongings is a magical sword ... possibly cursed ...

It’s rare that Cthulhu or its iterations has random encounters. Partly this is because the whole random encounter system depends on what can only be described as Ye Ancient Ways. Gygax did it therefore we do it. The only reason Ye Ancient Ways survive is because Dungeons and Dragons survives; had it dropped off the twig, as might have occurred at several points in its career, wandering monsters would vanish like a magician’s assistant in a colorful, coffin-shaped box.

I can’t think of many other systems that use random tables, and this is because the ones that do are about as old as Dungeons and Dragons or are stealing their design philosophy directly from that system.  Cyberpunk, for instance, has random tables, but then Mike Pondsmith is as old as dirt. (Sorry, Mike, but you know it’s true.) 

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if, in some of the earliest iterations of the game, Call of Cthulhu had them too, since CoC (and BRP for that matter) are also old as dirt. It doesn’t have them now.

Partly this lack of random tables is because random encounters assume travel from A to B and Cthulhu and its variants really don’t do travel. At all. 

There are whole scenarios based around travel. Pelgrane has its Mythos Expeditions and CoC has Fearful Expeditions, but those stories aren’t about travel, really. They’re about what might happen to the group if they decide to catch a Tabor aircraft to Constantinople. The encounters aren’t random. They’re preplanned. 

Similarly with long campaigns about going from A to B, like Horror on the Orient Express or Masks of Nyarlathotep. There are travel segments, and things might happen. However, almost none of the encounters are random. There are no dice rolls to see if there are orcs, or the equivalent, round the next bend. It’s all Keeper’s Choice. 

In most cases, in Cthulhu and horror games generally, the action is broken up, not by journeys, but by scenes. The players want to go to the British Library. Boom. Next scene, at the Library. Have the players finished at the Library? Boom, next scene, at the pub. There’s no question of travel from [wherever] to [wherever next]. If there is any hint of travel, say, from the town to the haunted house, then it takes less than a day. It isn’t a ten-day hike across wooded terrain, in which anything might happen.

That said, going back into the misty recesses of time, space and RPG history, there was a game that used random encounters which also divided action up by scenes.

The James Bond RPG (Victory Games) had two encounter tables, one Hot, one Cold. Director’s choice as to which was used at any given time, point being one was for an active encounter area and the other for a more peaceful zone.

Roll a d6 and then a d6. Did you roll 2 and 2? Is this a Hot zone? Then the agent found a dead body. Is it a Cold zone? Then the agent finds James Bond his own self. On vacation, presumably. A brief description came with each. The dead body might have a clue on it to the villain’s location. James Bond might be willing to help for a scene. 

What I like about that idea isn’t so much the table itself. It’s the dividing up of possibilities. Hot, or Cold?

Dracula Dossier does something similar. Whether it’s Whitby or Varna or some forgotten castle in the piney woods, the location can be Cool or Warm. A former bastion of wickedness long gone to seed, or a germinating pustule about to burst. This duality fits horror nicely. Maybe the investigators are somewhere relatively safe, where they might get information. Maybe they’re somewhere dangerous, where they might get killed – or get someone else killed. 

Let’s take this a step further. I’m going to presume Gumshoe rules, and for purposes of this example it doesn’t matter whether the game’s Trail, Bookhounds, Tombhounds or something else. Let’s keep this as generic as possible and assume it’s a Horror Game of Some Description.

Let’s further assume two possibilities: Hot, or Cold. Dangerous, or (relatively) safe.

Starting with:

Cold

1. Helpful civilian, who works with an agency or entity that the protagonists want to get closer to. It might be the police, or the local museum, or the state intelligence agency, or something else. Point spends turn this civilian into a Network Contact.

2. Lucky break. The protagonists get a bit of luck, for once, and can either refresh 1 point in an Investigative pool of their choice, or 2 points Stability. Perhaps they find a helpful source of information, or perhaps they just have a quiet, Stability-refreshing moment in a safe location.

3. Minor Threat. This threat (it might be a small cult, or a supernatural threat) has been left over from a time when this area was more important than it was. Though its information is outdated, if defeated the threat does have information on nearby threats that can be traced to more important assets.

4. Minor Location. This was once of importance and now very much is not. However, a thorough search may uncover an item which can be recovered and used against the enemy.

5. Minor Brush with the local law. This may mean a temporary halt to investigations while the protagonists untangle their messy legal situation.

6. A chance meeting with a hunter, or an agent from a supernatural-curious agency. The agency can be anything from a state actor to an academic or religious institution. This agent is willing to exchange ideas and information, if the protagonist offers to do the agent a small favour ...

Hot

1. Unhelpful civilian. This person works with an agency or entity that the protagonists are trying to get close to and is blocking their efforts. Is this because they're being bribed by the enemy? Or are their motives purely personal?

2. Bad Omen. The protagonists encounter a particularly significant supernatural event, a 2-point Stability check. Clearly they're getting close to their prey, but at what cost?

3. A brush with a cult or cult-equivalent. The protagonists discover unmistakable evidence that a cult is operating in their current location. This seems too easy; is it a trap?

4. A significant location. It might be a pawnshop or antique dealer selling items that look remarkably like supernatural items, or it might be a church or similar with a very significant history. Either way, there could be all sorts of things down in the basement ...

5. Significant brush with the state intelligence agency. This agency is keeping a close watch on the protagonists, perhaps because of things they got up to in the past or because they look remarkably like terrorists/bad actors. Either way, until they shake this tail any significant or violent action taken by the protagonists provokes a response. Possibly an armed response, depending on how badly the protagonists have behaved before. Were they careless with matches?

6. A chance meeting with a significant supernatural threat. This entity isn't looking for a fight but will oblige if provoked. However, this entity also isn't on good terms with the major threat of the scenario/campaign and can, if appropriately rewarded, dish all kinds of dirt on the real enemy. 

That's it for this week!

Yes, I know there still seems to be problems with Many Mansions. Honestly, that Beta program is far more trouble than it's worth. I'm trying to fix. Watch this space! 

Many Mansions - Release!

It's here! It's here! 

[Technically this should have come out last week. I had internet issues.]

It's here at last! Or it will be once I sort out DriveThru.

See, I trusted that Beta system DriveThru has in place. I used the Old Ways for the initial post, the Main Book. That's why you saw that on DTRPG but nothing else; the old ways work. Then I figured I'd use the Beta for the other three in the series. 

Well, gosh. Also, darn.

Won't be doing that again.

What I will do is re-post using the Old Ways, so you should be able to see all four books soon.

However! Far be it for me to witter when I could Witter. It's out! It's here at last!

For those of you wondering, the Main Book covers everything you need to know about the main campaign concepts, the setting, important recurring locations, Read House, and so on. That's why that one is set as Pay What You Want. I was in two minds about this. I could have set the price at $4, same as the rest, since in terms of word count the Main Book is about the same count. Longer, if anything. But that didn't seem right, so I went with PWYW. 

An Extract!

Rome's Four Things

You know what Rome is, for Many Mansions: Cthulhu in its Chorazin avatar. What does this mean in practice?

1. Dream Logic, especially bizarre and disjointed imagery. 

2. A Sensation of Drowning or being trapped in a suffocating situation or location.

3. Empty Houses and Shopfronts, places that have been abandoned to time and the elements.

4. Blank-Faced Creatures or People, wiped clean of all features and expressiveness, with nothing left but a vacant mask of flesh.

As Keeper, feel free to invoke Rome whenever it suits you, or suits the plot. 

For example: the investigators walk down a busy street on a Saturday morning. Everything seems bright and cheerful. Until they turn around and look back the way they came and see that the houses and storefronts they just walked past are all empty. 

For example: the investigators walk into a dust-filled room. At first they choke and cough. Then their lungs begin to fill with liquid – or is it liquid? Can’t breathe! Can’t breathe! Must get out! Must get air!

For example: the investigators step out of their bedroom and straight onto Broome Street. How did that happen? Why did it happen? Why is it nighttime, when only a moment ago it was early morning? Why do all the clouds in the sky look like laughing faces?

For example: the librarian’s face is wiped completely clean, featureless, blank as the surface of an egg!

The other four books are scenarios in the campaign.

In Memoriam - In which the investigators may attend a funeral in a church that does not yet exist.

When Tides Are Right - In which the investigators may find themselves adrift on Pilot Island.

Your Number, Please - In which our protagonists chase up rumors of a fault on the telephone line.

I enjoyed writing these! I have a weakness for Dream or Dream-inspired stories, it's why I have a fondness for Clark Ashton Smith and Lord Dunsany.  This let me play with that idea for ... so many words! 

One of my weaknesses as a writer is that I have difficulty believing I can finish a novel-length project. I don't think I'm alone in this. Projects like Many Mansions proves to me - and me is the only audience I care about - that I can finish a novel-length project. Between them, the whole thing's about 60,000 words, more or less. 

I'm also getting better at Omitting Needless Words. 

See? I Omitted a stack of Needless Words just now. You can't tell, because they're Omitted. 

Darn, that feels good. 

Anyway! The added bonus is that I could slot in more of these without causing trouble for the existing work. None of them are timeline dependent. None of them depend on another scenario for their plot. Two of them introduce characters who could remain in the narrative but don't have to. 

So! Want to see more of these? Then buy these. Encourage your friends to buy them. 'Cause the only thing which will get me to write more is sales, buddy, sales. Also, constant praise. But mainly sales. 

I hope you enjoy Many Mansions!

Now, since I've had this in every other Many Mansions boost it feels a shame to leave it out:

Jacob's Ladder sourced from HD Retro Trailers

Have fun!

Maids of Honor Row (Bookhounds)

From London Cameos (A.H. Blake):

This extremely fine row of houses, built in 1724, flanks one side of the green at Richmond, once the old tilting-ground of the palace ... 

J.J. Heidegger, Master of the Revels to the first two Georges, lived and died here in 1749. He was the ugliest man of his age and is caricatured by Hogarth in his print 'Heidegger in a Rage.'   He was said to be the originator of the masked assembly which had great vogue on account of the license it allowed. People are willing to do things when masked which they would never dare to do when they were recognizable ... 

From Wikipedia:

... the functions of Master of the Revels gradually became extended and the office acquired the legal power to censor and control playing across the entire country. This increase in theatrical control coincided with the appearance of permanent adult theatres in London. Every company and traveling troupe had to submit a play manuscript to the Office of the Revels. The master read the manuscript and sometimes even attended rehearsals. Once a play was approved, the master would sign the last page of the manuscript. The licensed manuscript attesting to the Master of the Revels' approval of a play was a treasured item for playing companies. When traveling and taking a play into the country troupes had to carry the licensed copy of the play manuscript. There was a licensing fee charged by the Office of the Revels for the approving of plays. Tylney charged seven shillings per play ... 

From The Book of Days:

The Duke of Montague gave a dinner at the 'Devil Tavern' to several of the nobility and gentry, who were all in the plot, and to which Heidegger was invited. As previously arranged, the bottle was passed round with such celerity, that the Swiss became helplessly intoxicated, and was removed to another room, and placed upon a bed, where he soon fell into a pro-found sleep. A modeller, who was in readiness, then took a mould of his face, from which a wax mask was made. An expert mimic and actor, resembling Heidegger in height and figure, was instructed in the part he had to perform, and a suit of clothes, exactly similar to that worn by the master of the revels on public occasions, being procured, everything was in readiness for the next masquerade.

The eventful evening having arrived, George II, who was in the secret, being present, Heidegger, as soon as his majesty was seated, ordered the orchestra to play God Save the King; but his back was no sooner turned, than his counterfeit commanded the musicians to play Over the Water to Charlie. The mask, the dress, the imitation of voice and attitude, were so perfect, that no one suspected a trick, and all the astonished courtiers, not in the plot, were thrown into a state of stupid consternation. Heidegger hearing the change of music, ran to the music-gallery, stamped and raved at the musicians, accusing them of drunkenness, or of a design to ruin him, while the king and royal party laughed immoderately ... The master of the revels, turning round and seeing his counterpart, stared, staggered, turned pale, and nearly swooned from fright. The joke having gone far enough, the king ordered the counterfeit to unmask; and then Heidegger 's fear turning into rage, he retired to his private apartment, and seating himself in an arm-chair, ordered the lights to be extinguished, vowing he would never conduct another masquerade unless the surreptitiously-obtained mask were immediately broken in his presence. The mask was delivered up, and Hogarth's sketch represents Heidegger in his chair, attended by his porter, carpenter, and candle-snuffer, the obnoxious mask lying at his feet.

From this:

The Bogus Hogarth

The Hounds are asked to authenticate a collection of Hogarth prints that one of their regulars wants to buy.

The alleged collection was compiled by Hogarth contemporary George Steevens and was found at Maids of Honour Row during a clear-out of one of the houses. It's part of a general auction of contents of that house, to be held at the house in a week's time. 

Steevens. a Shakespearean scholar and an ardent bibliophile, is known to have been a collector of Hogarth and to have compiled his etchings and sketches into one of the most complete bound, annotated volumes known to exist. Steeven's library was sold at auction when he died in 1800, and the sale catalogue of the auction is kept at the British Museum.

Study of the catalogue will want a 1-point spend, to get access to the British Library, and shows that there was a collection of Hogarth prints sold at the auction to one William Alderson, a known member of the Phoenix Club, an offshoot and successor to Dashwood's more famous Hellfire Club.  

Alderson is known to have lived at Maids of Honour Row, according to parish records, for a period in the later 1790s. Steevens died in 1800, which is when Alderson is supposed to have acquired his collection. Could Alderson have left his copy at Maids of Honour Row when he decamped to the Americas in 1805, with scandal hot on his heels after an alleged devil-summoning?

The collection itself is a folio-bound collection of prints, annotated by the binder. It is in remarkable condition for its age and seems to have survived the passing centuries without a stain either on its character or pages. 

Close study reveals a curious anomaly. There is a print of Hogarth's Heidegger in a Rage. However, the print in the book does not match the known Hogarth version of that print. In this version, the Heidegger seems fearful rather than outraged, and the mask on the floor isn't the vaguely Punchinello version known to exist in other editions. It's an altogether more sinister version, which someone with Mythos will recognize as resembling the Pallid Mask of Yellow King lore. Assuming the collection is a genuine set of Hogarth with this one curious anomaly, how did this come to pass?

Option One: Fakery. The collection is bogus, planted by a shop rival who wants to lure the regular over to their establishment. They think if they can humiliate the Hounds by getting them to authenticate a fake, the regular will quit the Hounds in disgust and take their money with them. The Heidegger is less a Mythos relic and more evidence of the forger's disturbed mind. The forger has gone one step too close to the mysteries and it is showing up in their work. This could cause problems; funny Hogarths aren't the only thing this forger has managed to bring into the world ...

Option Two: Hellfire Fakery. The Hogarths are real and the Heidegger is an artefact of the period. However, it is not a Hogarth. It was made by Hellfire Club enthusiast William Alderson who deliberately tipped it into the Hogarth collection as a clue to a hidden treasure: his personal copy of the King In Yellow. This isn't the traditional version of the play as it is known to Mythos scholars; the French play was published in 1895, and Alderson was dead long before then. This, according to some scholars, is a translation of the Greek which was the inspiration for the French version. This branch of scholarship has long since been discredited; nobody with sense believes there was a Greek version of the King in Yellow, still less that it was penned by Aristophanes. The idea's absurd. But Alderson clearly believed it ... and Alderson was dead long before 1895, so he might have been onto something ,,, 

Option Three: King Fakery. Technically this isn't a fake. It's completely genuine. It just doesn't belong in this timeline. Can a thing be real if it shouldn't exist in this reality? How did it get here? Why do its pages shimmer in the moonlight? Why does everyone seem to be wearing masks? Who are those curious dancers fluttering just on the edge of perception, and why do they smile so oddly? The answer may lie with the shop regular, whose pursuit of the King In Yellow has led them to see elements of that forbidden piece of literature everywhere they go. It's becoming a problem for everyone, as the regular's obsessions are bleeding out into mundane reality.

That's it for this week. Enjoy!